Sunday, September 4, 2011

What perfect weather today!!!! I went out for my long run today with a mind clash. I was told by my doctor not to run more than 12 miles until the MRI next Saturday in case of the stress fracture in the navicular bone in my foot(see my post from yesterday for the whole story). Today is going to be my 4th straight day of running. I took Monday-Wednesday off after experiencing non-stop pain in my foot after the 18 mile run I had last weekend. Thursday my foot gave me the greatest pain I have ever experienced in sports in my life. Friday it felt better. Saturday my foot felt good despite all the things that went wrong during the run. Today my foot, well my whole body felt the best it has felt ever! Strange and something I don't understand.

I was supposed to run 20 miles today bringing a close to my big block of running. This would have been my third 20 mile run in my training. The few weeks I have put in a long run of 18, 20, 18, 16, 13, 20, 18, 16 if you work backwards in my training. I have put in some serious long runs being that prior to this training I never ran more than 13 miles in my life.

As I took off I knew right away my body was feeling great. I ran mile 1 in 8:07 which is a fast first mile for me especially for a long run. After mile 1 I never went over the 8:00 mile pace mark. I had to use all my might and mental toughness to not run more than 12 miles. It was one of those mornings that I knew I could run at a good clip and possibly have my best 20 mile time of my life. However, I had to use my own stubbornness to battle my stubbornness and not run more than 12 miles. I had the voice of Amanda in my mind with her strong warnings of not running more. I am glad I have a wife that just tells it like it is because without her giving it to me straight last night and again this morning about not being stupid I realized that my doctor probably knows more than I do and I should not run long.

Instead of trying to push the envelope now and completely eliminating any chance of running the QC Marathon or any future races I turned around at mile 6 and came back home. Instead of going long I decided to try to keep the mile pace up and work on my speed to try and get the best out of the 12 miles. I have huge hope that my foot is not a stress fracture so I can get a shot and run this race. Call it denial or whatever word you like, but I am calling it optimism and I plan on running the 26.2 miles on September 25th.

Back to the run. With the perfect weather and breeze I was able to push my limits a little more than usual and ran the 12 miles at a blazing speed(blazing for me anyways) running 12 miles in 92 minutes for a 7:45 mile pace. The great thing is that I was not tired when I finished and feel like I could go run 12 miles right now. This pace did not wipe me out and I feel very fresh. I pray to all the gods I feel this great on race day. This mile pace is not that far off of my Bix 7 mile pace.

The great thing about this run is that the back 6 I ran faster and each mile was actually uphill in moderation(looking at ascent vs. descent I was always going uphill). I was able to push at a mile pace that is 1:20 or so faster than my marathon pace. This is a great sign that despite not getting my long 20 mile run today I feel like my body is ready. It is all mental. When it comes down to it on race day it will be all about how I have my mindset. If the weather is like this and my body feels like it does today there is no reason for me to not achieve my goal. I only wish I could run the half marathon next weekend, but the MRI must get done to make sure that there is not any damage. I feel much better about things today. I hope the pain stays away. I hope my body continues to feel good. I hope to be at that race on 9/25/11. Many things that are out of my control, but as long as I listen to my body and be smart I should be ready to go. Despite some setbacks I have found ways of GETTING IT DONE! My new shoes are feeling great on my feet(I bought another pair of Brooks Ravenna 2). I think I am going to go with a red shirt from Live Uncommon to match my shoestrings. You know have to be color coordinated while running!

I did not get my 40 miles in this week as planned. I did however get in 32 miles and that is a lot more than I thought I was going to get done. Rest day tomorrow after running 4 days of 7,7,6,12. Need to play it safe. Have a great day.

P.S. I thought this was quite humorous this morning. While I was running I ran right by my doctor. I had to wave, but of all people to see. Should make for an interesting conversation piece next weekend.